You all probably know this already, but if you're looking into borrowing your books from the public library for the reading choice, check out your library online. You'd be amazed at what you can do online with your library account. (Putting a book on hold is especially useful.)

To research what the waiting list for The Year of Magical Thinking was looking like, I asked to have this book put on hold. I'm the fifth in line for it.

If someone else can check with their local library and tell me what their waiting list is looking like, we can get a better sense of how hard it's going to be to get ahold of the book, I think.

hepcat is right. We might have to go with something less recent and less popular (although I didn't think TYoMT would be that popular).

Of course, my library doesn't have it. But I'm willing to check at another library if need be. I can also ask them to buy it. It might take a while though. I ordered A cook's tour more than 3 weeks ago and am still waiting.

Is "The Year of Magical Thinking" about a woman whose husband died? I think I've read about it. Is this the book we will be discussing? (yes, that means I am in!) Haven't checked out availability, but I am sure it's available on Amazon, or BAM.com.

Just went to Amazon, where it IS available, and I also read a few reviews, which were really diverse in opinion! I can't wait to read everyone at the FoRT's views on this book- has this one been decided on?

Just went to Amazon, where it IS available, and I also read a few reviews, which were really diverse in opinion! I can't wait to read everyone at the FoRT's views on this book- has this one been decided on?

Snoop's in!

If TYoMT is largely unavailable, I'll scour around and try to come up with some other ideas and put them out there for y'all.

When I'm recovered enough in a month or so (February, March?) I'd really be up for it. I'd like to read TYoMT, I love Joan Didion. I started Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell but have had to put it on hold (I can't read right now, personal life going to hell in a handbasket). If anyone's interested in that in the future, that's my suggestion (it's long though).

When I'm recovered enough in a month or so (February, March?) I'd really be up for it. I'd like to read TYoMT, I love Joan Didion. I started Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell but have had to put it on hold (I can't read right now, personal life going to hell in a handbasket). If anyone's interested in that in the future, that's my suggestion (it's long though).

Hi, giz. I'm very glad you've considered participating. As for the other stuff...

The idea is a delicious one: successful white man filled with guilt locks himself in a cage to be watched over by a penniless African American. "The Man in My Basement" becomes a series of intriguing dialogues between warden and prisoner. Bennet, the white man, who has long operated in the most covert international circles, attempts to educate Blakely, his warden, on many of society's issues, including the always-changing chalk line between good and evil. Not surprisingly, Bennet reveals the world to be a complex place held together by an amorphous moral structure that operates outside geopolitical boundaries.

2. The Constant Gardener (John Le Carre)

3. Another Bull**it Night in Suck City (Nick Flynn)

Flynn's wayward father, a self-styled writer and ex-con, describes his life on Boston's streets as "another bull**it night in Suck City": he hangs out in ATM lobbies, stuffs his coat with newspaper and is often "still drunk from the night before." This biting memoir describes the years poet Flynn (Some Ether; Blind Huber) spent, in his late 20s, working at one of the city's homeless shelters, where his path crisscrossed with his down-and-out father's.

4. Hidden: A Novel (Paul Jaskunas)

An Indiana woman whose world was shattered in one fateful night spends the entirety of this meditative literary debut/sleepy thriller unraveling its events. Twenty-two-year-old Maggie's crumbling marriage takes its final blow when she is beaten nearly to death in her idyllic farmhouse, and Nate, her domineering and abusive husband, is put in prison for the crime.

By Sunday, I'll post all recommendations and suggestions and put it to a vote. If I have the ability, I'll start a poll.

Except for Another Bull**it Night in Suck City, I checked, and all the above have audio (either tape or CD) versions, so Jewelsy should be able to enjoy them, as well.

Once we decide on the book early next week, we can look into its availability at the library or pick it up used, etc. I like Abebooks.com and the used books available through Amazon.

Gettin' a little excited over here for this to kick off. I'm glad to see so many interested parties!

All my life, I have felt destiny tugging at my sleeve.~ Thursday NextI don't want to "go with the flow". The flow just washes you down the drain. I want to fight the flow.- Henry RollinsAll this spiritual talk is great and everything...but at the end of the day, there's nothing like a pair of skinny jeans. - Jillian Michaels